Wild, Wild Qwest-The Gunslinger In Telecom

摘要

Driving into Denver from the northeast, the very first thing you see is the iridescent, cobalt-blue logo of Qwest sitting atop a 39-story skyscraper. It heralds the gateway to the Wired West, where bandwidth, not sheriff's badges, now rule. If there's a modern-day Wyatt Earp, it's Qwest CEO Joe Nacchio, who in just 16 months has moved Qwest to the top of a new generation of telcos, including Level 3, IXC, and Williams, that fuse Silicon Valley technology with traditional telecom services. "People ask if we're telecom guys or Silicon Valley guys," says Nacchio, 48. "I like to say we are a Silicon Valley company on the other side of the Rockies." Formerly the No. 3 executive at AT&T, Nacchio has remade Qwest by combining shrewd financial planning and the best technology in the business with some old railroad rights of way that Qwest has owned for years. Qwest is now a wholesaler to other carriers, a provider to businesses across the country, a supplier of long-distance service to residential customers-and a threat to just about everyone in telecom.